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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Triple-H As New WWE Head? More Like Triple-F

Just around the same time
Internet chatter took off about the 2011 “PWI 500,” Triple-H assumed leadership of WWE’s day-to-day
operations.

We can tell you that “Trips” didn’t
rank in this year’s “500,” due mainly to the amount of time he spent on the
injured reserve list during the evaluation period. However, if we were to analyze
and rank Triple-H for his early performance as a wrestling executive, he’d appear
much closer to the bottom of the list than the top.

Triple-H’s first few weeks in
charge have been unimpressive to say the least. And we dare say that if the
past 14 days are any indication of how Triple-H intends to run the company, WWE
is in for a very chaotic future.

It’s a good thing Triple-H
isn’t a baseball player, because after whiffing on his first three front-office
challenges, we’d have already benched him in favor of a more reliable batter:

Strike One: Triple-H’s first blunder actually occurred months ago
when he made his first WWE talent acquisition by signing Mexican sensation Sin
Cara. Sure, the lucha libre star is a scintillating wrestler capable of
whipping out highlight-reel maneuvers on a whim. And, yes, he appeals directly
to the Hispanic and children markets WWE so covets. Unfortunately though, Sin
Cara is currently on the sidelines, waiting out a 30-day suspension for a violation of the WWE Wellness Policy. Making matters worse, Sin Cara
discussed the suspension in the press, which the gang in Stamford, Connecticut, couldn't have appreciated.

Of course, Triple-H didn’t
cause Sin Cara’s violation, but he reportedly lobbied very strongly for WWE to
do the deal. And now, there’s no way around the fact that Cara’s sins reflect
poorly on Triple-H’s judgment.

Triple-H may have been acting
at the behest of the WWE Board of Directors when he “future endeavored” Vince,
but it takes some pretty big grapefruits to humiliate somebody who not only
gives you a job, and a wife, but also the proverbial keys to the family
business.

The incident not only calls
Triple-H’s judgment into question yet again, but this time WWE employees are left
to wonder if values such as loyalty and gratitude mean anything to “The Game.”

Strike Three: Triple-H squandered an opportunity to
demonstrate his leadership ability when he completely mismanaged the WWE
heavyweight championship situation on Raw.

In a scenario where
then-champion CM Punk and former champion John Cena were expected to be gone
from the Raw brand after July 17, WWE enters SummerSlam with both men holding
claim to the same title, but no unification or elimination match announced for
the PPV as yet.

Triple-H had an opportunity
to restore clarity to the heavyweight title scene by making some bold and
decisive decisions regarding Punk and Cena. Instead, he ordered a championship
tourney on Raw that only muddied the waters further by getting Rey Mysterio
involved. Triple-H has only himself to blame for the bungled mess the heavyweight
title picture has become.

In fairness to Triple-H, nobody expected the transition from active wrestler to very
visible front-office executive to be seamless. But while some mistakes are acceptable, Triple-H
would’ve been better served by staying off of Raw and Smackdown until he saw a viable way through all the confusion.

Luckily for him (and us),
however, there are some ways Triple-H can fix some of his mistakes. Senior
Writer Dave Lenker expounds on them in an upcoming feature article in the November
2011 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated
(on sale September 27). Let us know what you think!

Sorry when Miz tops the 500 list I'm more inclined to question PWI over Triple H any day. I'm not saying Miz isn't entertaining, and he has gotten much better over the years...but #1...in his words...Really?!?

Mad Conservative, I consulted the SummerSlam page on WWE.com when writing this blog. At the time, and even now, under the Matches banner it says TBA. At Smackdown tapings on Tuesday, Triple-H mentioned Punk vs. Cena but didn't announce a match. When was this announcement made?Frank Krewda

Fair point, Marko. However, since Triple-H was so quick to act on the Board's behalf and assume Vince's day-to-day oversight, his first act should have been to cancel the tournament. Clearly is was this type of mismanagement that prompted the Board to remove Vince in the first place.Frank KrewdaEditor-In-Chief

A good article, Frank, but I do have to beg the question: you stated earlier in your comments that you were just having a bit of fun by treating the storylines as genuine (as related to HHH firing Vince) but then simultaneously you included the backstage events of Sin Cara's suspension and speaking out on it. A good article, like I said, but a little contradictory. - Sasha

I would like to know how PWI is handling the WWE Title situation. Does PWI recognize both CM Punk and John Cena as WWE Champions, or do you only recognize CM Punk, since he is listed as champions in the ratings section of the website? How about Rey Mysterio's title win? Do you recognize those reigns as interim reigns and therefore not actual world title wins? Thanks for your help.

You make an excellent point, Anon. We do not recognize CM Punk's claim to the WWE title, and our ratings have been adjusted accordingly.

The way we see it, while Punk beat John Cena for the title at MITB, he made good of his threat to quit, albeit for a brief period of time. At the moment he left, the title became vacant. Rey Mysterio Jr. won the tournament and is part of the title lineage.

We strongly objected to Triple-H's decision to force Mysterio to defend the title against Cena without the opportunity to get some rest and prepare for the match. However, that is irrelevant to the subject of who we recognize as champion.

After seeing the end to SummerSlam, does PWI recognize CM Punk as a two time WWE Champion or do you not recognize his few minute title win before losing to Alberto Del Rio? WWE does not count it as a separate reign, as they previously recognized two champions (Punk and Cena).http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwechampionship Will his brief second reign be erased like Kurt Angle's initial NWA/TNA title win in May 2007 or Antonio Inoki's WWF Title win since the promoter refused to recognize it?